Articles

History of Firefighting

The history of organized firefighting began in ancient Rome while under the rule of Augustus. Prior to that, there is evidence of fire-fighting machinery in used in Ancient Egypt, including a water pump invented by Ctesibius of Alexandria in the third century BC which was later improved upon in a design by Hero Of Alexandria in the first century BC.

National Fire Protection Assosiation

The mission of the international nonprofit NFPA, established in 1896, is to reduce the worldwide burden of fire and other hazards on the quality of life by providing and advocating consensus codes and standards, research, training, and education.

Population and Building Factors That Impact Residential Fire Rates in Large U.S. Cities

The purpose of this explanatory research is to evaluate the impacts of population and building characteristics on the residential fire rates among large cities in the continental U.S. This study used existing aggregated data from 69 U.S cities in the continental U.S to explain the effect of population and building factors on cities' residential fire rates. Overall findings indicate that two building characteristics - vacancy rate and building age - significantly influence residential fire rates. None of the population and natural environment variables examined found to significantly impact residential fire rates. Therefore, during the economic downturn, fire prevention efforts should focus more on areas with high vacancy rates and old building structures.

Hail Damage

Hail damage to roofs often goes unnoticed until further structural damage is seen, such as leaks or cracks. It is hardest to recognize hail damage on shingled roofs and flat roofs, but all roofs have their own hail damage detection problems. Metal roofs are fairly resistant to hail damage, but may accumulate cosmetic damage in the form of dents and damaged coatings.

Fire/Smoke Damage

A fire loss includes damages caused by smoke, soot, heat, the water used to extinguish the fire and the fire itself. In the case of a severe fire, all of these components combine to make a residence or business uninhabitable and unusable.